LONDON’S GLOBAL UNIVERSITY
HUMAN RESOURCES POLICY COMMITTEE
Wednesday 24 April 2013
MINUTES
Present:
Professor Malcolm Grant (Chair)
Professor Richard Catlow
Professor Mary Collins
Mr Phil Harding
Professor Graham Hart
Mr Rex Knight
Professor David Price
Professor Anthony Smith
Professor Stephen Smith
Professor Sir John Tooke
Professor Jo Wolff
Professor Michael Worton
Apologies: Professor Stephen Caddick; Professor Anthony Finkelstein; Professor Dame Hazel Genn;
Professor Alan Thompson
In attendance: Mr Gary Hawes (Secretary); Mr Nigel Waugh (Director of Human Resources)
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MINUTES OF 6 FEBRUARY 2013 MEETING
Confirmed:
1.1
The Minutes of the previous meeting of HRPC held on 6 February 2013.
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MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES
Noted:
2.1
There were no matters arising from the previous meeting's Minutes
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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROFESSORIAL REWARD REVIEW
Received:
3.1
The report at HRPC 4-1 (12-13), introduced by the Director of HR.
Reported:
3.2
The report at HRPC 4-1 (12-13) outlined recommendations for implementing various
changes to the professorial reward at UCL that had been discussed and proposed
previously at a meeting of the Provost's SMT and which were aimed at improving
fairness, transparency and flexibility.
Human Resources Policy Committee – Minutes – 24 April 2013
Discussion:
3.3
HRPC agreed that UCL professorial staff whose salaries were currently below the
proposed revised professorial minimum of £61,700, along with those staff who were
promoted to Professor in the 2012-13 senior academic staff promotion exercise,
should have their salaries increased to this point with effect from 1 October 2013. It
was further noted that since the costs of increasing the professorial minimum salary
would have a ripple effect alongside the yet-to-be-quantified costs of moving from
three to four professorial bands, it would be crucial to ensure that UCL faculties and
departments took account of this and built it into their financial planning for 2013-14
and beyond.
3.4
Some members of HRPC noted that in light of the fact that UCL's professorial salary
levels remained below those of many of its competitors, the increase in the
professorial minimum salary that would apply from 1 October 2013 represented a
relatively modest step in comparison to the transition that would be required to
address the issue of the accumulated differential in pay between staff who had been
conferred professorial status via UCL's promotion procedures and more recent
external professorial appointees. The Chair of HRPC noted that improvement to the
PAR system would assist in counterbalancing this issue by facilitating more objective
assessment of performance.
3.5
In noting that it had been indicated at HRPC 4-1 (12-13) that the recommendation for
a performance-related pay award maximum of 3% for professorial staff in 2013-14
should not set a precedent for awards in future years and that the maximum award
payable annually should continue to be contingent on the financial situation of UCL,
members of HRPC agreed that greater clarity would need to be provided on the
specifities of the financial factors that would need to be taken into account in
determining the maximum level of award beyond 2013-14. In the meantime, it was
agreed that Deans of Faculty should again be granted discretion to consider
performance-related pay awards of between 5-10% in individual cases where this
was felt to be merited with a view to reducing the professorial pay gap to under 5%.
The Chair of HRPC noted that it would be helpful to send a message round to Deans
confirming this.
3.6
Regarding the recommendation that UCL should move to an annual appraisal cycle
for all UCL professors, some members of HRPC noted that this would be likely to
place an added burden on Heads of Department considering the difficulties they
already experienced in ensuring that all professorial staff were appraised within the
current two-year timeframe. In light of this, it was agreed that with a view to
facilitating the change from the current two-year appraisal cycle and helping to
alleviate the burden on Heads of Department to ensure that all professorial staff in
their areas were appraised before the end of July 2013, the current appraisal cycle
should be extended to the end of the current calendar year (ie 31 December 2013) as
a transitional arrangement, with a view to moving to an annual appraisal cycle
thereafter. In the meantime, it was noted that the appraisal process would continue
to serve as an important part of the evidence for informing decisions on professorial
rebanding and staff retention, and that professorial colleagues would not be
considered for rebanding unless they had been appraised in the most recent cycle.
RESOLVED:
3.7
That the recommendations set out at HRPC 4-1 (12-13) be approved and taken
forward – subject to incorporation of the agreed action set out in Minutes 3.6
above and 3.8 below.
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Human Resources Policy Committee – Minutes – 24 April 2013
3.8
That a communication be sent by HR to Deans to formally advise them of the
performance -related pay parameters.
ACTION: Nigel Waugh/HR colleagues
3.9
That with a view to facilitating the change to an annual professorial appraisal
cycle, the current two-year professorial appraisal cycle be extended to the end
of the current calendar year (ie 31 December 2013) as al transitional
arrangement, with a view to moving to an annual professorial appraisal cycle
thereafter.
ACTION: Nigel Waugh/HR colleagues
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UCL STAFF SURVEY 2013
Received:
4.1
The report at HRPC 4-2 (12-13), introduced by the Director of HR.
Reported:
4.2
The report at HRPC 4-2 (12-13) outlined proposals for running the fourth UCL Staff
Survey in November 2013, including timescales and costs.
4.3
It was proposed, amongst other things, that the 2013 Survey should use the
questions that were used in the previous 2011 Survey, with some minor adjustments,
with a view to building up a benchmark of data on employee engagement.
RESOLVED:
4.4
That the proposals at HRPC 4-2 (12-13) for the running of the fourth UCL Staff
Survey in November 2013, including timescales and costs, be approved and
taken forward.
ACTION: Nigel Waugh/HR colleagues
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ESTABLISHMENT OF A RESEARCHER DEVELOPMENT CONSULTATIVE
GROUP
Received:
5.1
The proposal at HRPC 4-3 (12-13) for the establishment of a Researcher
Development Consultative Group, introduced by the Director of HR.
Reported:
5.2
The proposal for the establishment of a Researcher Development Consultative
Group, to be chaired by the Vice-Provost (Research) and reporting to HRPC, had
emerged from discussions within UCL which had highlighted a need for stronger
governance arrangements to demonstrate UCL's commitment to the training and
career development of researchers. Such arrangements would be required to comply
with the principles of Vitae's Researcher Development Framework and Concordat as
well as to ensure UCL's eligibility for the European Commission HR Excellence in
Research award which was held by all Russell Group institutions apart from UCL and
which might become a requirement for future EC research funding.
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Human Resources Policy Committee – Minutes – 24 April 2013
RESOLVED:
5.3
That the proposal at HRPC 4-3 (12-13) for the establishment of a Researcher
Development Consultative Group be approved and taken forward.
ACTION: Nigel Waugh/Cheryl Newsome
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UCL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMMES
Received:
6.1
The report at HRPC 4-4 (12-13), introduced by the Director of HR.
Reported:
6.2
The report at HRPC 4-4 (12-13) outlined work that had been undertaken to refresh,
and in some areas develop, leadership and management programmes that had been
piloted previously amongst Professional Services staff. However, continued
development and roll out of these programmes would require additional financial
investment and would be subject to a funding bid from HR as part of the budget
allocation process for 2013-14.
Discussion:
6.3
It was noted that SLMS had also submitted a funding bid for a leadership programme
that was tailored to the needs of staff within the School. The programme, which it
was hoped would start in June 2013, would serve as a test bed for closer working
between SLMS and OSD colleagues in expanding the service that was already
offered by OSD. Similar initiatives underway in other areas of UCL included ‘The
Bartlett 2050 Leadership Programme; Transforming the Built Environment: 2020–
2050’.
6.4
It was noted that the Wellcome Trust was about to embark on the development of a
major leadership programme in the area of Biomedicine, and that it would be
important to ensure that UCL's own leadership initiatives in this area were consonant
with this.
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STAFF ELIGIBILITY TO SUPERVISE RESEARCH STUDENTS
Received:
7.1
The report at HRPC 4-5 (12-13) informing HRPC of clarifications to staff eligibility to
supervise postgraduate research students, as agreed by RDC at its meeting in
November 2012.
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STAFF SURVEY UPDATE
Received:
8.1
The report at HRPC 4-6 (12-13) outlining progress against action plans agreed
following the 2011 Staff Survey
Reported:
8.2
The Director of HR noted that reports on action plans for UCL faculties and divisions
would be used to inform communications in advance of the 2013 Staff Survey.
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Human Resources Policy Committee – Minutes – 24 April 2013
9
ACADEMIC TITLES
Reported:
9.1
The Chair of HRPC reported that a small UCL working group comprising the ViceProvost (Education), Vice-Provost (Enterprise) and Director of Registry and Academic
Services amongst others had been established to explore further discussions around
the option of reviewing the academic titles used within UCL.
9.2
Discussions to date had considered the option of using the titles of Professor,
Associate Professor and Assistant Professor as a means of modernising the titles
that UCL used for academic appointments and making these more consonant with
the nomenclature that was used by other universities globally. Consideration had
also been given to establishing a title beyond 'Professor' that would be used to
recognise esteemed colleagues who made a significant contribution across the
institution; as well as to establishing a simpler nomenclature to be applied to Visiting
and Honorary Professors.
9.3
It had been suggested that a change in nomenclature along these lines would help to
reconcile some of the historical anomalies around the use of the current titles of
Reader and Senior Lecturer and facilitate a better level of articulation of the criteria
for measuring academic staff achievement with the principles and ideals expressed in
the Excellence and the UCL community: a shared endeavour document. However,
discussions around the various issues were still at an early stage and further work
would need to take place. It was also stressed that if UCL were to move in the
direction of considering a proposal for the redesignation of academic titles, this would
need to be supported by a compelling case.
GARY HAWES
Senior Academic Support Officer
Academic Support
Registry and Academic Services
[telephone 020 7679 8592, UCL extension 28592, email: g.hawes@ucl.ac.uk]
16 June 2013
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